Melanie Oudin Rallies Past Nadia Petrova, Reaches U.S. Open Quarterfinals!!

It has been an amazing summer for seventeen-year-old Melanie Oudin, who hasn’t quite finished growing up but who’s in the midst of a life-changing season of big emotions and pulling off very big upsets.  Melanie is still very much a teenager from Marietta, Ga., enjoying the trip of her life in the Big Apple, playing foosball in the players’ lounge and using words like “amazing” and “cool” as she works her dizzying way through the draw at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows.  Despite standing just 5 feet 6 inches, she’s standing tall at her country’s most important tennis tournament.  Last Saturday, she knocked off three-time Grand Slam Champion and former No. 1 Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the U.S. Open’s fourth round.

With her upset win over Russia’s Nadia Petrova on Monday, Melanie’s surprising and inspiring run through the draw has taken her all the way to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.  The 13th-seeded Petrova looked as though she might actually write a sad ending to Oudin’s U.S. Open fairy tale when she ripped through the first set in 31 minutes, reeling off six games in a row.  But Oudin stayed true to her September form by calming down, extending the rallies, developing a deeper understanding of Petrova’s serve and giving herself and her fast-growing public what they both craved by prevailing, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Melanie Oudin Rallies Past Nadia Petrova, Reaches U.S. Open Quarterfinals!

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Seventeen-Year-Old Melanie Oudin Stuns Maria Sharapova at the U.S. Open!

It has been an amazing summer for seventeen-year-old Melanie Oudin, who hasn’t quite finished growing up but who’s in the midst of a life-changing season of big emotions and pulling off very big upsets.  Melanie is still very much a teenager from Marietta, Ga., enjoying the trip of her life in the Big Apple, playing foosball in the players’ lounge and using words like “amazing” and “cool” as she works her dizzying way through the draw at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows.

Now, despite standing just 5 feet 6 inches, she’s standing tall at her country’s most important tennis tournament.  Oudin’s latest win was the biggest so far: She knocked off three-time Grand Slam Champion and former No. 1 Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 Saturday to reach the U.S. Open’s fourth round.  “I just had a blast,” said Oudin, who buried her face in a towel and sobbed on the sideline when the match ended.

Seventeen-Year-Old Melanie Oudin Stuns Maria Sharapova at the U.S. Open!

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Choices: The Life Hazards of Children Who Have No Choices

Choices is an inspiring and very creative animated short film by Anton Groves. The animation used thousands of cardboard cuts, which were combined using both stop-motion footage and digital animation. The 2 ½ minute short was created for the charity organization “United Way” in Romania, and was a selection for the 2009 Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. Choices takes the viewer through the childhood and teenage years of a small girl, demonstrating the hazards that potentially lie in wait for those children whose life choices are a result of not actually having a choice.

Choices: The Life Hazards of Children Who Have No Choices

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Cabalerno: And It’s All Right

Cabalerno is a documentary-style short film shot in a Latino neighborhood of New York City. The film was an official selection in 2007 at film festivals in the United States and around the world (including film festivals in Australia, Barcelona, Brazil, Canada and Germany). In the United States, Cabalerno was an official selection at the Provincetown International Film Festival, The New York Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, The International Latino Film Festival (San Francisco) and others. Cabalerno was the winner of The Best Short Film for Season Two, on LOGO Television.

Cabalerno reveals the unspoken suffering of a withdrawn and awkward Latino young teenager, who appears to be attempting to begin coming to terms with some of his uncomfortable erotic attractions to others. The younger teen gets caught pointing his video camera at an older, handsome and muscular skateboarder on New York’s Lower East Side, with whom he is infatuated. Confronted with his video filming by the older teenager, he suffers both embarrassment and fears of possible public humiliation. However, after an initial awkwardness, the two fellows must cope with their unanticipated, seemingly dissonant feelings.

“I’m Looking at You,
Looking at Me,
Looking at You,
And it’s all right.”

done

Cabalerno: And It’s All Right

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